


Given The Choice - Experiments

by Iverna



Series: Given The Choice [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 02:51:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9472262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iverna/pseuds/Iverna
Summary: A missing scene in which Emma and Hook test the waters of jealousy, with decidedly mixed results. Set at some point during Given The Choice. You don’t need to read that to get this, I think, all you really need to know is it’s post-Neverland, without Pan causing trouble, leaving Emma and Hook free to argue and fight their feelings and amuse everyone around them.





	

It’s been a long day. Emma trudges up the steps towards Granny’s diner, hoping against hope that Regina is already there with Henry and she can just take the kid and go home.

But no such luck. The place is buzzing with conversation and clattering cutlery, but there’s no sign of Regina and Henry yet as she sweeps a quick glance around the diner. She spots some of the dwarves, Neal and Belle in one of the booths, Archie and Marco in another, and a few people she only recognises by face.

And, leaning against the counter with a beer in his hand, Captain Hook. He’s been talking to Ruby, who is on the other side of the counter, but now his eyes are on Emma.

Ruby’s are, too. She smiles, and waves, and Emma smiles back and makes her way over before she can reconsider.

Hook is smirking, of course. He’s half-perched on his stool like a model for a photo shoot, and Emma would accuse him of doing it on purpose if she didn’t know that he has no idea what a photo shoot is.

“Hey Emma!” Ruby calls. “Hot chocolate?”

Emma hesitates, but between the long day at work and the unexpected presence of the most provoking, infuriating man she’s ever met, the lure is too strong to resist. Sugary, warm, cinnamon-scented goodness is exactly what she needs. She gives Ruby a grateful look. “Yes, please.”

And that’s how she ends up next to Hook at the counter, talking to Ruby and Granny as they work. They’ve treated her differently ever since she and Snow returned from the Enchanted Forest, but since Neverland, things have changed again. Emma is asked for news of Henry and her opinion of Chimaera meat and the current weather and Chris Evans, of all things.

“You keep talking about this Chris Evans fellow,” Hook says, looking confused—adorably so, if Emma is honest, which she doesn’t really want to be right now. “Who is he?”

“An actor. _I_ think he’s hot,” Ruby says as she sets a steaming mug in front of Emma. “But Granny doesn’t like blondes.”

Emma lets her jaw drop and widens her eyes in mock offence, and Granny laughs.

“Entirely her loss,” Hook remarks lightly. An innocent statement, as statements from the man go, but Emma’s stomach seems to be taking an entirely unreasonable dive at the fond note in his voice.

“Don’t worry,” Granny tells Emma, “I make exceptions.”

“Yeah, for David,” Ruby says with a grin.

Granny glares at her, though without heat. “Don’t you have work to do, girl?”

While they bicker, with encouragement from Hook, Emma’s attention is caught by a very different blonde across the diner. Tinkerbell has joined Neal and Belle, the three of them all smiles as they chat. Emma’s gut clenches at the sight. She owes the fairy her gratitude for the help back in Neverland, and while she doesn’t know her very well, Tink seems to be a perfectly lovely woman.

Hook seems to like her, anyway.

Emma shoves that thought away. She doesn’t get jealous. Especially not over Captain Hook and Tinkerbell.

It’s ridiculous.

 “Those two look rather cozy, don’t they?” Hook’s voice startles her, and she looks up, to find him casually leaning back against the counter, his eyes sliding from her to the booth across the diner.

“Mhmm,” is all Emma says, trying to study his expression without being obvious about it. Is _he_ jealous? He clearly has some kind of history with Tink, that’s been obvious ever since they ran into her on Neverland. Emma doesn’t know what happened between them, but whatever it was, they seem to get along just fine. Her gut clenches a little bit more. Her heart seems to be beating faster than it really needs to. There’s a strange hot feeling in the pit of her stomach at the idea that she might be about to witness Hook get jealous over someone el— _Tink_.

But if it bothers him to see Tink with another man, it doesn’t show on his face. Then again, he’s had several centuries to perfect his poker face, so that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

Damn him, anyway.

“They do, don’t they?” Ruby says brightly. “They’ve been working with you on your ship, right?”

This is addressed to Hook, who half-turns to look back at her, and nods. “Aye, they’ve been kind enough to help out.”

 _Unlike me._ Emma has to fight back a sudden surge of—guilt? Regret? Henry has been telling her about working on the _Jolly Roger_ , but she begged off joining him, unsure about how that would come across. Unsure, too, of whether she wants to be there, to see Hook in his element, and Henry enjoying himself on board the ship, and Neal and David...

When did everything get so damn _complicated_?

“Well, Tink seems to like him,” she says, still watching for a reaction while trying not to look like she’s watching for a reaction.

“Hmm,” Hook says, and there’s something very careful in the way he says it, a strange tension in his eyes, like he’s waiting for something. Or maybe watching for something. “He appears to be rather fond of her, too.”

He doesn’t sound worried. In fact, it sounds almost like a challenge.

Is he trying to make her jealous of Tink, over _Neal_?

Joke’s on him in that case, because that ship sailed a long time ago. She remembers the sting she felt when she met Tamara, but that wasn’t jealousy, either. It was just a little knife twist to see how easily he’d moved on, how well he’d kept his life together after leaving her.

Or so she—and probably he, too—had thought at the time.

“Looks like it,” Emma agrees blithely, as if any and all implications are totally lost on her. That unpleasant hot, tight feeling in her stomach is giving way to the fresh rush of relief—probably because it no longer looks like she might have to break up a fight or something. Or because with Tink running interference, she doesn’t have to worry about Neal coming over to talk to her. Yeah, that must be it. ”Good for him.”

“Aye,” Hook says, just as casually. “Good.”

“Yeah.”

For a moment, they both stand there and look across the diner, like the world’s most outlandish parody of two people trying to match-make their friends. Or rather, their exes. Or whatever Tink is to Hook.

Oh, her new life is so _weird_.

“Neal and Tink, seriously?” Ruby intervenes. “Come on. No way.”

When she puts it that way, it does sound a bit ridiculous. Tink’s way too good for Neal, anyway, much as Emma hates to admit it—and _why_ she hates to admit that is a thought she won’t be looking into, no thank you.

Granny clears her throat, looking from Emma, to Hook, to Ruby. Her eyes are sparking with some secret knowledge that seems to delight her, somewhere deep down beneath that gruff exterior. “Ruby, girl, I don’t think that’s what that’s about.”


End file.
